SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



senting England against Australia in a test 

 match is Major E. G. Wynyard. 

 The total amount spent on cricket during 



the year amounts roughly to between £700 

 and £800, not including special grants for lay- 

 ing out fresh grounds or putting up buildings. 



FOOTBALL 



Football in some shape or other is an old 

 pastime in some parts of Surrey. Of 

 the early Shrovetide football festivals that 

 at Kingston-on-Thames, if not presenting 

 some of the sensational features which 

 characterized its rougher rivals at Chester, 

 Derby, or the numerous celebrations pre- 

 valent throughout Scotland, was at least 

 entitled to an honourable place by reason of 

 its universal local popularity. It had not lost 

 any of its peculiar attractions for the towns- 

 folk over a century ago, to judge by the de- 

 scription given of ' Football Day ' at Kingston 

 in 1815 in Hone's Every -Day Book. A 

 traveller journeying to Hampton Court by 

 coach ' was not a little amused upon enter- 

 ing Teddington to see all the inhabitants 

 securing the glass of all their front windows 

 from the ground to the roof, some by placing 

 hurdles before them, and some by nailing 

 lathes across the frames.' At about twelve 

 o'clock (according to the traveller) the foot- 

 ball began, and everybody who chose joined in. 

 Several games were in progress at the same 

 time, and the amusement lasted four hours. 

 The neighbouring royal borough of Rich- 

 mond in the first half of the last century had 

 been subjected to the pains and penalties of 

 these Shrovetide football festivals. In 1839 

 (according to the records) the principal in- 

 habitants, seeing that the practice had been 

 attended with accidents and much destruc- 

 tion of property, availed themselves of the 

 Police Act and signed a requisition to the 

 Commissioner of Police, who caused a notice 

 to be issued cautioning persons from practising 

 the sport. In view of possible disturbance a 

 large force of police was in attendance on the 

 following Shrove Tuesday, and, an attempt 

 being made to commence the game, some of 

 the mob were arrested and taken before the 

 magistrates, who imposed fines. Some dis- 

 turbance occurred and the police were 

 assaulted, but not seriously. The Kingston 

 people, however, were not to have their 

 amusement stopped so summarily, for in 1840 

 a request was sent to the Commissioner that 

 the police should not interfere,* 



' BelVs Life of 22 February 1844 tells of a golden 

 ball. Before the game commenced, the King- 

 ston Band, preceded by about five hundred of the 

 inhabitants bearing flags, marched in procession to 



Dorking also gave itself up freely to foot- 

 ball on Shrove Tuesday. Mr. Charles Rose, 

 in his recollections of old Dorking, tells us 

 that it was customary in the morning to 

 carry the footballs round the town with 

 collecting boxes to receive funds to defray 

 the cost of repairing any damage that 

 might be done in the shape of broken 

 windows, etc. The balls were usually 

 painted blue, red, black and yellow, and 

 the framework on which they were sus- 

 pended bore the inscription, ' Wind and 

 Water's Dorking's Glory,' to which re- 

 cently was added a preliminary line, ' Kick 

 away both Whig and Tory.' The game was 

 started from the Church gates, and was 

 continued till six o'clock in the evening. The 

 ' brook ' offered great attractions to the more 

 desperate spirits, and duckings therein re- 

 presented a great deal of the day's enjoyment. 



ASSOCIATION 



Among the early fathers of Association 

 football were not a few Surrey men. The 

 first football club to play a regular pro- 

 gramme of matches was the Forest Football 

 Club, founded in 1859; it was established 

 by J. F. and C. W. Alcock, the latter of whom 

 played an active part in cricket and football 

 for nearly forty years. The Barnes Football 

 Club, one of the earliest clubs, claimed Mr. 

 E. C. Morley, the first hon. sec. of the Foot- 

 ball Association, as one of its most active 

 players. The success which attended the 

 first inter-district match, that between Lon- 

 don and Sheffield in the early sixties, was in a 

 great measure due to the energy of Mr. 

 Morley, who was assisted by a few other well- 

 known Surrey players. 



Happily there were at this time several real 

 football enthusiasts eager to develop the 

 Association game. The institution of inter- 

 county matches was one of the first results 

 of their labours. Matches in which the 

 players had bond fide qualifications for their 

 respective counties were arranged with 

 Kent and Middlesex in friendly rivalry. The 

 Football Association was the controlling body 



the market-place, where the golden ball was kicked 

 oG, and the usual bumping, kicking, thumping, 

 pulling and hauling ensued for several hours, all 

 ending satisfactorily. 



549 



